When Fashion Meets Compassion (Press Clipping)

We all know that veganism extends far beyond what consumers choose put on their plates, affecting their lifestyle choices, too. And one huge part of this is fashion. While the clothing market may have once been saturated with animalderived materials such as leather, silk and wool, nowadays, the demand has noticeably dropped as shoppers become much more ethical with their purchases choosing to boycott pieces that derive from animals.

Data analytics firm, Edited (edited.com), registered a 41 per cent decline in women’s fur arrivals in 2018 in the UK market alone. Big designer brands are leading the way with this movement as Gucci, Chanel, Burberry and Versace all promised to no longer use fur in 2018. Furthermore, New York assemblywoman, Linda Rosenthal, has introduced a bill proposing that it be made illegal to ‘sell, offer for sale, display for sale, trade, give, donate, or otherwise distribute a fur product’ in the state by 2021.

Comparatively, vegan fashion is soaring – from August 2015 to September 2018, consumer insights company Hitwise (hitwise.com) reported a 39 per cent increase in web searches for ‘vegan fashion’ or ‘vegan clothes’ in the UK. Mintel (mintel.com) found that 42 per cent of Brits say that animal welfare is important to them when considering buying clothes. Luxury e-tailer, Net-a-Porter (net-a-porter.com), received an incredible response from consumers buying items from the Hungarian vegan leather brand, Nanushka (nanushka.com), via their website. The sales prompted Net-a-Porter to stock 200 per cent more of Nanushka’s pieces for their spring 19 collections.

Given these stats, it’s clear the vegan clothing market is only going from strength to strength. Sy Mahatthanarak, Founder of dedicated vegan shoe brand, HEXA (hexashoes.com), comments on the growth of the sector. “I began HEXA two years ago with a determination to not use animal skins after I came out of my family’s leather bag business. Leather was the ultimate luxury item – be it cow, snake, crocodile, ostrich, etc. There was no doubt about it. I was questioned by many people if HEXA could have any future at all. Right now, more and more people are talking about whether it’s the right thing to buy a bag made from animal skin. The good news is that the industry is definitely changing and brands are becoming more aware of what they have to do to fulfill their customer’s demands.”